TORTILLAS PRONOUNCED TORTEEYAS

I am having a serious case of writer's block here and now. So what shall I say? Shall I tell you about tortillas? Or torteeyas. Yes because that's how they are pronounced. Or shall I tell you about what I did today? Shall I tell you about a marriage I just read about? Or shall I tell you about my life? Shall I tell you about my cat or shall I tell you about a philosophical doctrine of happiness and virtue? Tell me. Tell me.

(Cupping my ear and stretching my neck). I don't hear anything. Oh wait a minute did I hear someone say "Tell me about the marriage you just read about."?

Well....ok...but it's a long story. But a great one. And a funny one. And this is where I read it. Take a peek and read it for yourself for it's a long long story. And by the way, this is where the tortilla slash torteeya recipe came from too.

But wait! What about my tortillas slash torteeyas? Wait don't go. Because tortillas slash torteeyas are ssooooo quick and easy to make. It takes about a minute to cook on each side which is way faster than I can get used to saying torteeyas instead of tortillas. And they are really tasty and soft and easy to roll up or fold.


Did you know that fried tortillas...(roll eyes)...torteeyas...become tacos and rolled torteeyas become burittos? uhuh....discovery of the century.... for me..... I'm not very familiar with Mexican food so tortillas were quite foreign to me..... until now that is. Now I love them and I have many plans for them.

They will definitely replace bread (loaves) because they can be fun to eat, rolled up with whatever leftovers are around, they can be toasted to a crisp and dipped in chillie sauce or salsa as a snack, they can be toasted with cheese in the my oven toaster as a skinny pizza, they can be spread with butter, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and toasted and of course they can be turned into burittos, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas and fajitas.

But wait a minute..what are all those ohs and ahs? Well, I've been doing some research to clear my head too and these are what I have digested. Tortillas are what you see in the pictures on this post.



Burittos are thin flour tortillas rolled up with a filling of meat, refried beans or mexican rice.

A taco is a tortilla fried to a crisp.

Quesadillas are two tortillas sandwiched with cheese and grilled in a pan.

Enchiladas are corn tortillas rolled around a filling (meat, cheese, beans, vegetables, potatoes etc) and covered with chili pepper sauce.

And fajitas are strips of marinated meat, poultry or vegetables,cooked over an open fire and then rolled up in a tortilla.

So tortillas are, in one word, versatile. Like rice. You can eat it with anything and in any way you like. Rolled, folded, sandwiched, fried, baked or grilled. So although a tortilla is not much different from a chapati in look and ingredients, it has however, gone a long way in the ways it is used. More ways than one can ever hope to understand or remember.


And here's the recipe........

2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 warm water

Place flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix. Rub in the butter with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Pour in the warm water and mix with your hands until it becomes a smooth dough. Divide into 8 balls, place them on a plate and cover with a clean dish cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes roll each ball into a 6 to 8 inch circle ( the thinner it is the softer it will be and easier it is to wrap or roll when it's cooked).

Grill each piece of pancake in a dry non stick pan for about a minute and a half on each side until the pancake turns white and puffs up a little and develops some light brown brown spots. I liked mine a little pale and dainty looking.

As each one is cooked put on a plate and cover with a dish cloth to keep warm and soft. Serve with whatever filling or curry that you like.